Republican Glenn Youngkin led in the Virginia governor's race late Tuesday with 95% of the precincts reporting.
Youngkin had captured 51% of the vote by midnight, while Democrat Terry McAuliffe had 48.3%. An independent candidate picked up the rest.
If Youngkin wins the race it would be a sharp turnabout in a state that has shifted to the left over the past decade and was captured by President Joe Biden last year by a 10-point margin. It also would likely add to the Democrats' anxiety about their grip on power heading into next year's midterms.
The election is the first major test of voter sentiment since Biden took office. His administration has been shaken repeatedly in recent months -- from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan to challenges in emerging from the pandemic to a legislative agenda at risk of stalling on Capitol Hill.
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Youngkin, a political neophyte and former private equity executive, portrayed McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor, Democratic National Committee chairman and close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, as part of an elite class of politicians. He also seized on a late-stage stumble by McAuliffe, who during a debate performance suggested that parents should have a minimal role in shaping school curriculums.
Youngkin sought to attract former President Donald Trump's base while also appealing to suburban voters who were repelled by the former president's divisive behavior.
Youngkin stated his support for "election integrity," a nod at Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, while also focusing on education and business-friendly policies. He never campaigned in person with Trump, challenging McAuliffe's effort to cast him as a clone.
In addition to the Virginia race, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was in a close fight as he sought to become the first Democratic governor to win reelection there in more than four decades.
With 80% of the precincts reporting, that vote was even closer -- 50.08% for Jack Ciattarelli to 49.19% for Murphy.
A ballot question was defeated in Minneapolis that sought to reshape policing in that city, where the killing of George Floyd last year touched off demonstrations for racial justice across the nation.
But no other race received the level of attention as the Virginia governor's campaign. That's in part because such contests in many states have sometimes shown voter frustration with a party newly in power, foreshadowing significant turnover in Congress the following year.
In 2009, during President Barack Obama's first year in office, Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in Virginia previewed a disastrous midterm cycle for Democrats, who lost more than 60 House seats the next year.
Voting proceeded largely without incident across Virginia on Tuesday. McAuliffe and Youngkin were mostly out of sight ahead of election-night parties planned in the critical northern Virginia suburbs that each campaign was counting on.
VoteCast showed about half of Virginians had favorable opinions of Youngkin, compared with a 55% unfavorability rating for Trump, suggesting that the Republican gubernatorial candidate had successfully distanced himself from the former president. Youngkin was endorsed by Trump but didn't appear with him, though the party is still dominated by the former president.
It also found that Youngkin was making small gains in the suburbs, staying competitive with McAuliffe after about six in 10 voters in the same areas backed Biden over Trump last year.
McAuliffe, by contrast, campaigned with his party's top national stars, including Biden, whose last visit to Virginia came a week before Election Day. VoteCast found Biden underwater, with 48% of Virginia's voters approving of his job performance compared with 52% disapproving.
In Norfolk, along the state's Atlantic Coast, 29-year-old Cassandra Ogren said she voted for McAuliffe in part because of his support for abortion rights and her concern about the restrictions recently enacted in Texas, where a new law mostly bans the procedure. But she was also motivated by Youngkin's ties to Trump.
"Anyone endorsed by President Trump is not someone I want representing me," Ogren said.
The significance many voters placed on school issues, meanwhile, seemed good news for Youngkin. His pledge to ensure parents have greater say in what their kids are taught was a centerpiece of his campaign -- possibly foreshadowing arguments that GOP candidates will use across the country next year.
Youngkin has decried critical race theory, an academic framework that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people. In recent months, it has become a catch-all for any teaching in schools about race and American history.
The issue took on greater weight after McAuliffe said during a debate that "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."
Bennett White, 24, a Youngkin voter in Norfolk, said he didn't want "our next generation of leaders to be looking at their peers in the lens of race."
"I just want to make sure that my mom is safe in the classroom," said White whose mother is a teacher, "and that her ideals and everyone's ideals are protected, and we're not turning into brainwashing academies."
Information for this article was contributed by Will Weissert, Sarah Rankin, Ben Finley, Hank Kurzand and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press; and by The New York Times.
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Virginia's governor race down to the wire - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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